MVC Track & Field Weekly Honors (Apr. 8)
ST. LOUIS — The Missouri Valley Conference revealed the men’s and women’s track and field weekly honors on Wednesday. Bradley’s JD Rosslee was named Men’s Track Athlete of the Week, Drake’s Cooper Cerese earned Men’s Field Athlete of the Week honors, Indiana State’s Rachel Mehringer was selected Women’s Track Athlete of the Week, and Indiana State’s Jahnel Bowman received Women’s Field Athlete of the Week recognition.
MEN'S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
JD Rosslee, Bradley, Jr., Alberton, Johannesburg, South Africa
JD Rosslee set a new program record in his first 10,000m race in nearly two years on April 3 at the Stanford Invitational. The junior from South Africa clocked a time of 28:25.07 in the discipline's best heat, shattering his old personal best by 1 minute and 24 seconds and surpassing the prior program record -- a 28:49.43 by George Watson in 2023 -- by 24 seconds. Rosslee's time tops the Missouri Valley Conference and ranks seventh in the Midwest. His time also ranks at #18 amongst West Qualifiers and #23 in all of the NCAA.
MEN'S FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Cooper Cerese, Drake, Redshirt Jr., Roselle, Ill.
Cooper Cerese won the UNLV Rebel Elite shot put competition with a throw of 17.95m/58-10.75. Cerese’s effort now leads the Missouri Valley Conference a made for the highest nationally ranked men’s performance among all Valley throwers last week. Cerese now sits third in the Midwest region, 20th on the West qualifying list, and 44th in the country.
WOMEN'S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Rachel Mehringer, Indiana State, Jr., Schnellville, Ind.
Mehringer continued her blistering start to the season at the Pacesetter Sports Invitational, clocking a wind-legal 100m hurdles time of 13.20 to take first place in the event. She finished as the only athlete in the field under the 14-second mark, winning by more than eight-tenths of a second while running the second-fastest wind-legal time in Gibson Track and Field Complex history behind only her conference record time from last year. Mehringer’s top time this season is nearly three-tenths of a second faster than her top times at this point during her 2025 Second Team All-America campaign. She owns the top 100 hurdles time in the MVC by more than seven-tenths of a second with the only times in the conference under 13.9, a feat she has already accomplished twice with times of 13.29 at Eastern Illinois and 13.20 in the home opener. Mehringer’s time also ranks third in the Great Lakes Region, 12th in NCAA East Qualifying and 18th nationally, making her the highest-ranked women’s track and field athlete in the conference and the only female athlete in the conference to own a top-20 national ranking.
WOMEN'S FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Jahnel Bowman, Indiana State, Soph., Plainfield, Ill.
Bowman put together an outdoor career-best performance in the triple jump at the Pacesetter Sports Invitational, winning the competition by nearly a full meter with her wind-legal mark of 12.62m (41-5). She also produced a mark of 12.57m (41-3) during the competition, with her performance in the home opener representing the top two marks in the MVC this season. Bowman’s mark in the home opener moved her up to fourth in program history in the triple jump among wind-legal marks and sixth in program history among all-conditions marks. In addition to owning the top mark in the conference by more than two feet with the only marks in the MVC above 12 meters, she also ranks third in the Great Lakes Region, 29th in NCAA East Qualifying and 54th nationally in the triple jump. Bowman also owns a top-five long jump mark in the conference from the season opener at Eastern Illinois (5.79m/19-0).